MGMT Is For The Children (And Those Children’s Therapy Bills)

Posted 06/04/2009 11:17:31 am
by James Montgomery.

Your reaction to MGMT’s new “Kids” video probably says a lot about you. To wit: if you are a sociopath, you probably really like it.

This is because the clip, which appeared yesterday on the foppish faux-hippies’ official Web site, is basically just six loooong minutes of super-scarring, deeply psychic child abuse. The kind you need decades of therapy to un-scrub from your brain. You know, the awesome kind.

Starring a precocious tyke (certainly no older than two), who for the duration of the video is positively brutalized by visions of terrifying, maw-dripping monsters, it’s both incredibly unsettling and incredibly provocative, recalling both the sorta-twisted Saturday morning visions of Sid and Marty Krofft’s “H.R. Pufnstuf” and the definitely twisted photography of Jill Greenberg, only, you know, on drugs. And with some flames and animation and an on-screen quote incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain.

And while all that is amazing, the real testament to MGMT (and director Ray Tintori’s) brilliance is the reactions the video elicits from people. I’ve shown this clip to about six different folks, and their reactions have run the gamut from “wide-eyed shock” to “face-tightening delight.” Oh, and one dude broke down and started weeping openly, too.

Basically, it’s part high art, part psychological barometer, only with really gruesome monsters thrown in for good measure. They really don’t make videos like this any more … mostly for legal reasons.

Want to be entertained/horrified? Check out MGMT’s “Kids” video, after the jump.

So, what do you think? Are you in the “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” or the “HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” camp? And, more importantly, does your answer scare you?